In America, 2011, history is given yet another example of a nation in which
one person, in this case called “the president,” can
launch all of his subjects into war merely on his whim. Granted, if
one reads the nation’s Constitution it plainly states that something
called “Congress,” not the president, has the sole power to declare
war.

Yet in America,
like in all nations, the politicians respect no boundaries other than
those they are forced to respect, and in America, as pure a democracy
as history has ever seen, they are forced to obey no law but those embodied
in opinion polls. Opinion polls in America are, almost without exception,
highly favorable to war. So again, despite what the written law may
state on the subject, in America today one individual gets to launch
all the wars that popular opinion will let him get away with.

It’s taking
a toll. America has devolved into a militarized frenzy, involved in
so many wars, each following the other, all piled up on top of the previous
ones, that being in a war (or wars) has become a normal, unremarkable
way of life for its people. Attacking another country is just an accepted
fact—it’s what we do—so much so that nobody even discusses
it around the water
cooler any longer.

If you think
this harsh and are American, I ask that you think to yourself a moment… do
people at your job follow maps of the U.S. Marine Corps’ progress through
the quagmire of Kandahar province? When was the last time you even thought
about the ongoing war in Iraq? Do you even know where Kandahar is? The
U.S. drone attacks against Pakistan are supplanted in the average American
mind by worries over jobs, rooting for sports teams, and lurid spectacles
embodied by Charlie Sheen and his goddesses. Another war, you say? Pile
it on top of the others, over there in the corner.

I should know.
I’m a 40-year-old American and have known nothing my entire life but
war or the threat of it. Now here we are, a solid week since the latest
Decider (this one’s named Obama) launched us into yet another
war (this one against Libya), and, as if to prove my point about the
lack of the rule of law in this land, a check of my local congressional
bigwigs’ web pages yields nothing, not even a mention of this latest
war or the blatantly unconstitutional manner in which it was launched.
Like the Americans they represent, members of Congress don’t consider
this attack on Libya important enough to take up any bandwidth.

Instead, my House representative has his nose to the grindstone
handing out other people’s money for a landfill, “saving” a local
museum (also with other people’s money), lauding the Red Cross, and
announcing his approval of National Patient Safety Awareness Week. My
Senate grandees are also busy pushing to bring unmanned military drone
testing to a local airport, tweaking laws for fishing licenses, drawing
up FEMA flood maps, and handing out $6 million of other people’s money
to buy fruits and vegetables for the wee children. This new war, normal
and unremarkable like all the others, passed them by like a ship in the
night. So it goes for all of us.

America was
started on this path to endless war by President Truman’s decision
to send American troops into the Korean War without first obtaining
a congressional declaration of war (an act that a spineless Congress
accepted without a fight). Had he been (rightly) impeached for it, publicly
shamed and driven from office, and had his final resting place
beneath a public restroom as a warning to all future presidents, we
may have avoided Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and, now, Libya. Even more
important, the rule of law would have been upheld.

Sadly, it wasn’t,
so this habit of allowing one man to declare war for our entire nation,
in direct contradiction to the clear intent of our Constitution, has
continued down to this day. Recently, a long-tenured political barnacle
named Peter King (R-N.Y.) opined that the Constitution allows the president
unilateral power to make war, a stunning (and stunningly ignorant) statement,
even for a congressman. In Article 2, which outlines the president’s
powers, the word “war” is not mentioned a single time.

In the Federalist Papers No. 69, it was made clear by our Founders:
“The President is to be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of
the United States. In this respect his authority would be nominally
the same with that of the king of Great Britain, but in substance much
inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more than the supreme command
and direction of the military and naval forces, as first General and
admiral of the Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to
the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and
armies—all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would
appertain to the legislature.”

The American
Revolution was triggered because of the imposition of taxation without
representation. In modern America, we have war without representation,
and nobody cares. The overwhelming majority of Americans, both among
the common men and the elite, have long ceased to concern themselves
with holding politicians to the rule of law, even in the all-important
matter of war. This will have dire consequences for us. In fact, it
already has.

In the Federalist
Papers No. 41, our Founders warned us, “The liberties of Rome proved
the final victim of her military triumphs.” The Romans would come
to rue the day they did not crucify Caesar for crossing the Rubicon
with his 13th Legion. No nation in the world has ever had
the power to destroy America’s liberty, but there’s no need for any foreign
attack.

This is all true of course, but has any Congress at any time no matter which party was the majority ever told a president he couldn't have his war and they'd get the details later? I mean, even once? We've become such a warrior state that its' hard even when they go to Congress to get more than a token couple of votes against whatever the president is planning to do just so it could be said later that 3 people in both houses were against it. Like that means anything.
Kind of easy to see why presidents have just decided to say the hell with the whole thing. They're going to get the ok, so why waste a day or two on the obvious?. With a very few exceptions both houses are loaded with empire and war lovers. Many presume to think they'll one day be in the WH and would like to have the same free hand so it's only a few who complain. And the public of course but screw us, we're just background noise to these guys.

Jamal

1- According to McAuley World :-

Who are these "Rebels" that the US Air Force is providing cover for … who are these Rebels that we are helping win this Civil War in Libya

(Search the names for yourself … while the US Press will not mention their names, who they are is no secret)

The Libyan Fighting Group (LIFG) also known as Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya is the most powerful radical faction waging Jihad in Libya against Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi's regime. Shortly after the 9-11 attacks, LIFG was banned worldwide (as an affiliate of al-Qaeda) by the UN 1267 Committee.

Continues….

Jamal

2- LIFG was founded in the fall of 1995 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It aims to establish an Islamic state in Libya and views the current regime as oppressive, corrupt and anti-Muslim (which is what makes it corrupt and oppressive to the rebels), according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. LIFG claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Gaddafi in February 1996.

Jamal

3- Fierce clashes between [Qadhafi's] security forces and Islamist guerrillas erupted in Benghazi in September 1995, leaving dozens killed on both sides. After weeks of intense fighting, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) formally declared its existence in a communiqué calling Qadhafi’s government “an apostate regime that has blasphemed against the faith of God Almighty” and declaring its overthrow to be “the foremost duty after faith in God.” This and future LIFG communiqués were issued by Libyan Afghans who had been granted political asylum in Britain….

Jamal

4- Emerged in 1995 among Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, the organization declared the government of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi un-Islamic and pledged to overthrow it. Some members maintain a strictly anti-Qadhafi focus and organize against Libyan government interests, but others are aligned with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization or are active in the international mujahidin network.
As recently as February 2004, then-Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that “one of the most immediate threats [to U.S. security] is from smaller international Sunni extremist groups that have benefited from al-Qaida links. They include … the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.”

Jamal

5-Derna is famous as the home of a large number of suicide bombers in Iraq. It is also deeply hostile to Gaddafi. “Residents of eastern Libya in general, and Derna in particular, view the Gaddadfa (Gaddafi’s tribe) as uneducated, uncouth interlopers from an inconsequential part of the country who have ‘stolen’ the right to rule in Libya,” US diplomats were told in 2008, in a cable since released by WikiLeaks. The last 110 members of the LIFG were freed on 16 February, the day after the Libyan uprising began (the 1995 uprising not the 2011 uprising). One of those released, Abdulwahab Mohammed Kayed, is the brother of Abu Yahya Al Libi, one of al Qaida’s top propagandists. Koumi fled Libya and is said to have ended up in Afghanistan working for Bin Laden. Captured in Pakistan, he was handed over to the US and sent to Guantánamo Bay in 2002. In 2009 he was sent back to Libya….

Jamal

6- Also Search:
Armed Islamic Group of Algeria
Al Qaeda in the Maghreb (Libya) and the Safist Group for Preaching and Fighting:
Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links (searchable headline)
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya". Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader.

dink

Good Article. "Attacking another country is just an accepted fact—it’s what we do", says CJ Maloney.
Its getting sad. Its getting worst, although some with in Congress have courage to fight against it.

Jamie

I ONLY NO WHAT I READ ON THE NET THAT IV'E CHEAKED TO MOST LIKELY BE TRUE.ALL THESE WARS THAT THEY CAN NOT AFFORED ALONG WITH MOST OF THE OTHER TRILLIONS THAT WERE STOLEN FROM CITIZEN FROM SOMEONE WITH NO INVESIGATION FOR EVEN BEING 100 TIMES THE BIGGEST RIP IN HISTORY.THE DOLLAR IS GOING TO COLLAPES IT COULD HAPPEN TODAY OR 5 YEARS FROM NOW BUT IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.ANY DOLLAR MONEY WIL;L BE USLESS AND PEOPLE WILL STARVE AND KILL EACH OTHER FOR FOOD WATER AND ANYTHING OF VALUE.THE NEWS DON'T TALK ABOUT IT THE PEOPLE THAT BENIFIT DON'T WANT DOLLARS BEING SPENT.THE LONGER FOR VERY FEW THE BETTER.BUT GETTING ALOT OF FOOD SAVED EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH MONY SAVE 1800 DOLLARES CAN GET YOU A YEARS SUPPLY OF FOON FOR 1 PERSON.SO DEPPENDING ON FAMILY SIZE YOU HOPE TO GET TOGETER FOOD FOR 1 YEAR FOR EVERY PERSON IN THE FAMILY.IT MIGHT TAKE MOST OF YOUR MONEY BUT WHEN THINGS GET BAD YOU DON'T DIE.DON'T FORGET GOOD WATER.

Formatting friend

Formatting = good
All Caps = bad

Nobody wants to read a post that isn't readable.

Ira7Epstein

I think you might have something worthwhile to say, but your post is unreadable. I gave you a thumbs down, not for the content, but for way you presented your thoughts. I do not expect perfect grammar, punctuation, or spelling, (I know I am not perfect in any of these areas), but at least try and make your post readable.

Jamie

SORRY DO WANT DOLLARS SPENT MISTAKE.

VietnamWarVet

In theory America is a 'Republic' and NOT a 'Democracy'.
In theory the people elect representatives to the Congress who are to represent the interests of the people.
In theory – and it is only a theory – because the 'Republic' has been long dead – destroyed by the corruption in Washington, DC; destroyed by the idiots and morons, crooks and thieves, TRAITORS, incompetents that we have in Congress who act only in their own self interest while they damn the American people who elected them.
'Follow the money' and we determine why America is at wars with countries that have not attacked nor threatened the US.
We're in Afghanistan in order to establish a stable government so that Big Oil can securely build its gas pipeline through that country.
Of course – History shows us that NO invader has ever won a war in Afghanistan – "the graveyard of soldiers and of empires".
Obama needs to be impeached and sent back to Kenya. EVERY member of Congress (save for Ron Paul) needs to be voted out of office in 2012!
ALL previous 'empires' are now merely dust on the pages of History – which is where Obama and the Congress are leading America!

JDonald

America's love of war stems from the beginnings of the country. Every day Americans stand and honor war when they sing "and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" as if such acts are sacred and not life taking. Which side would a then "USA-like" country have supported during the American Civil War? And give me a break, the death toll of the Civil War was many times the current death toll in Libya. For all the 80% of Ameiricans that call themselves Christian, its about time they took a refresher course in what Jesus taught and repent of their warmongering.l

marko

Gee, C.J. – The sentiment is appreciated but you're a bit late to the party. It's a bit of preaching to the choir at this point. Hopefully, though, this signals some kind of epiphany for you, which is always a good thing.

Ron Shirtz

The apathy of the general US public on this latest breach of Constitutional contract is astounding.
Most of the nation is stupefied by frivolous pursuits an distractions to registered anything approaching comprehension, much less outrage.

The term "No Fly" zone is a typical military euphemism to lessen the seriousness of this gammbit—Instead of merely preventing Gaddafi's air force from attacking the rebels, we are proving close air support to the rebels, and bombarding Libya with cruise missiles–With the usual "collaeral damage that follows any use of massive explosives. This is perfect example of "mission creep" that can only eventually lead to boots on the ground. The incremental involvement policy of Vietnam is back in vogue again.

Read the latest article from the NY Times concerning Mrs. Powers, wife of Cass Sustein. Her nagging to intervene in Libya, for the sake of the US "Collective Conscience", was one of many voices that hen-pecked the weak kneed, waffling Obama to give the go-ahead. She and Hillary are so ardent to send others sons and daughters into harms way to save people she don't know–and risk killing the innocents in the middle.